Water-wheel.



PATENTED APR. 3, 1906.

Inventor 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. L. SHELTON. WATER WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.30,1904.

Wt I @%W No. 816,826. PATENTED APR. 3, 1906.

J. L. SHELTON.

W ATER WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. so, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Q 1m Attornegs UNITED STATES PATENT oFFron.

WATER-WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 3, 1906.

Application filed August 30, 1904. Serial No. 222,745.

To a whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES LEE SHELTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful VVater-lVheel, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to turbine water wheels, and has for its principal object to provide a wheel of the highest efficiency and at the same time provide for the ready control of the quantity of water passing through the wheel.

With this and other objects in view, as will more fully hereinafter appear, the invention consists of the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, size, and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the in-' vention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a turbine water-wheel constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view of the wheel on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a similar view on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a sectional perspective view illustrating the mounting of one of the gates. Fig. 6 is a view looking from the bottom of the camdisk controlling the opening and closing of the gates. Figs. 7, 8, and 9 are detail views of one of the buckets of the runner.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

In the operation of turbine water-wheels it is well known that in order to obtain the best results the buckets of the wheel or runner must be kept filled with water in order to obtain the highest pressure, and all well-designed turbine water-wheels are therefore built so that the area of discharge and inlet shall bear a certain ratio or proportion to each other in working with the gates full open. If the gates are partially closed, thisratio or proportion is immediately interfered with. The area of the outlet remains the same, while that of the inlets has been reduced by partially closing the gates. The result is lossof pressure, and therefore power,which loss increases in proportion to the reduction of the area of the inlet-opening. In any turbine, therefore, in which all the gates are simultaneously opened and closed the reduction of area at each inlet is such that the buckets as they pass the gates will not be wholly filled and the volume of water passing through the wheel does not exercise its full pressure. A further objection to the part-closing of all of the gates is that the direction of the current of water passing to the wheel is changed. The water naturally exerts its greatest power when allowed to flow on a line tangent to the wheel, and the majority of wheels are made so that the water will flow in this manner when the gates are full open. As soon as the gates are partly closed the direction of flow is diverted and the water is delivered on a line other than tangent, so that its effective force is materially reduced. In the present invention these and other disadvantages are overcome by providing for the consecutive opening and closing of the ates, so that while some of them may be c osed others will re main full open, and by thus maintaining their original area the buckets which pass the gates will be completely filled, and each volume of water taken in by a bucketwill exercise its full power.

The frame or stationary portion of the turbine is formed of a pair of horizontally-disposed parallel plates 1 and 2, that are connected together and maintained in spaced relation by stationary guides 3, all approx1- mately of sigmoidal form and disposed on lines tangential to the inner bucket or runner. Between the several stationary guides are removable gates 4. As will be seen more clearly on reference to Fig. 3, the movable gates 4 are each disposed between two stationary guides or partitions 3 and when in open position divide the water-inlet space between said guides or partitions into two passages of approximately equal area, and the opposite side walls of said gates afford smooth unbroken surfaces for contact with the water, so that no eddies will be created from irregularities in the walls of the waterpassages. When in closed position, each gate will make contact with the two guides or partitions between which it is placed, and it will be noted that one edge of each gate is turned or curved outward beyond the point where it makes contact with the guide or partition, so that as soon as the opening movement is started the inrushing volume of water will assist in completing such opening movement. The gates are provided with lower pintles 5, which enter recesses in the lower plate 1, and the upper edges of the gates are provided with pins 6, extending through suitable openings in the top plate 2 and having rectangular terminal portions 7, which fit into correspondingly-shaped slots in rocker-arms 8. In order to more positively hold the gates to the arms, the latter are provided with laterally-projecting lugs 9, connected by bolts 10 to the upper portions of the gates, said bolts extending through arcu ate slots 12, formed in the upper plate 2. This connection serves not only to more firmly unite the rocker-arms and gates, but prevents excessive strain on the upper pivotpin 6 of the gate during the opening and closing movements. Each gate when closed moves into contact with the opposing faces of two stationary guides 3, and thus entirely closes the water-passage between said two guides. When in the full open position, the gate is approximately tangential to the inner wheel or runner, and a water-passage is formed on each side of it.

From the lower plate 2 depends a cylinder or petticoat 15, to which is secured a spider 16, and in the hub of the spider is an opening for the reception of a vertically-ad'ustable pin 17. The lowest end of the pin is grooved, as at 18, for the reception of a transverselydisposed lever 19, connected to the lower end of an adjusting-bar 20, and the upper end of said bar has a threaded portion which passes through an unthreaded opening near the periphery of the plate 1 and receives a pair of nuts 21, by which the bar may be adjusted j and locked. This mechanism permits the vertical adjustment of the pin 17 in the event of wear. To the pin 17 is secured a conical step 22 for the support of the revoluble wheel or runner. This wheel has a centrallydisposed spindle 24, that is rigidly secured to the head 25, the diameter of the spindle gradually decreasing from its lower to its u per end, and from the upper portion of the ead extends the main shaft 26, which is led through suitable guiding devices carried by the stationary portion of the frame, as hereinafter described. The wheel or runner is provided with a lower peripheral ring 27, flaring in form, with its greatest diameter at the lower end. To this ring are secured the lower ends of the buckets 28, and the upper ends of said buckets are secured to the hub 25, the upper outer edge of the latter being slightly projected over the upper ends of the buckets to form an annular flange 30, which I extends into a recess 31 in the under side of the plate 2. By this construction the water when it reaches the outer edges of the bucket will have passed over a surface already in mofaces tion in the same direction and at the same velocity as the buckets, thus overcoming the friction consequent upon delivering the volume of water to the buckets immediately from the dead surface of the upper plate 2 and materially increasing the efficiency of the wheel. The upper portion of each of the buckets 28-that is to say, between the upper edge of the ring 27 and the flange 30is disposed on a slightly-oblique line, the top of each of said buckets leaning forward and ahead of that point of the buckets where they enter the ring 27, while that portion included within the ring 27 represents a downward and curved surface, on which the weight of the water will act by reaction most effectively in revolving the wheel. The wheel is thus subjected to the two forces of the waterthat is to say, the upper portions of the buckets are subjected to the current or impact force as the several streams of water flow in on tangential lines, while on the outflow of water through the downward and curved portion within the ring 27 the weight or reactive force of the water is the more effective factor in revolving the wheel. The object of this oblique disposition of the buckets is twofold-first, it prevents a direct impact of the columns of water against the face of the buckets in a plane perpendicular with the same, thus avoiding all shock to the wheel and increasing the useful effect of the water second, it prevents the formation of water eddies in the front of the buckets. It is well known that the outer edge of a side supply-wheel travels faster than the water acting against it, and this causes eddies to be formed in the angle or pocket formed by the bucket with the encircling ring 27. These eddies materially retard the forward motion of the wheel and also where the water carries sand or gritty material soon cut away and destroy the buckets and ring. By the construction above these disadvantages are overcome.

In wheels of this class there is a known tendency of the water to climb or crowd upwardly toward the top of the wheel, which materially interferes with the passage of the volume of the water downward necessary for effective operation. To prevent this, each of the buckets is provided on that side which. receives the impact of the water with one or more ribs 33, approximately sigmoidal in form and extending in a downward direction from. the outer edge of each of said buckets clear across the same and having their lower practically at a right angle to the plane of the buckets, so as to offer abrupt shoulders, which will prevent the upward flow of water, while the upper faces of such ribs are rounded or inclined downwardly and will not interfere with the downward flow of the water. These ribs serve, moreover, to strengthen the buckets and to receive a portion of the impact and slightly raise the wheel, and thus remove a portion of its weight from the stepbearing, thereby materially reducing friction. The face of the bucketsthat is to say, that part receiving the impact of the wateris made convex transversely or horizontally, while the back of the buckets is concave, the shape and design being such as to hold the water as much as possible on the extreme outer edges, where the greatest leverage is obtainable, and also by this construction the buckets present to back or dead water sharp edges and afford the least possible resistance to such water. Below the ring 27 the curved faces of the buckets are concave, as usually constructed.

Secured to or supported by the top plate 2 of the frame is a collar or hub 35, having a passage for the main shaft 26, and at the upper portion of the collar or hub is a casing 36, containing a number of adjustable bearingblocks 37, which engage with the shaft. Each of the blocks is independently adjustable by a screw 38, so that the shaft may be maintained in a central position.

Mounted on the hub or collar is a disk 40, with which engages a pinion 41, carried by a small vertical shaft 38, that is provided with a hand-wheel 39, and by turning the hand-wheel the necessary rotative movement may be imparted to the disk 40 through the mutilated gears. In the under side of this disk are arranged two cam-grooves 42 to receive antifriction rollers or pins 43 at the end of the rocker-arms 8, and the active portions of the cams are diametrically opposite each other, as will be seen on reference to Fig. 6.

In the present instance the movable gates 4 are six in number, and these are so arranged as to form three pairs, those of each pair opening and closing simultaneously, while the pairs close and open in successive order. lVhen it is desired to close one set of gates, the cam-disk is turned one-sixth of a revolution, and this moves the rocker-arms 8 of the pair of gates first closed, and said gates are fully closed, while all of the remaining gates are in open position, so that all of the buckets passing said open gates will be entirely filled with water. Should circumstances require, the disk is turned for another one-sixth of a revolution, and a second pair of gates is closed, leaving the remaining set of gates open, and, if desired, this third set of gates may be closed in order to stop the wheel, and in all cases the closing of one set of gates will not affect the positions of the remaining gates, and the latter will permit the passage of the full volume of water necessary for the filling of the buckets, and the direction of flow will not be altered, but will always be tangential to the wheel, so that the force of the current may be utilized to the fullest extent.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. In a turbine water-wheel, the combination with a wheel or runner, of stationary partitions disposed on lines approximately tangential to the wheel or runner, and gates arranged between the partitions, each gate being pivotally mounted at a point intermediate of its length in the space between two partitions, and being movable to present its inner edge adjacent to the periphery of the wheel or runner, or to a position in which the gate is in contact with both of the partitions, one edge of the gate being arranged on a curved line to permit the water-pressure to assist in moving the gate to open position, and the partition against which the curved surface of the gate rests when closed being recessed at a point in advance of the end of the gate to form an elongated surface for directing a current ofwater with considerable force against the curved portion of the gate.

2. In a turbine water-wheel, a wheel or runner, a frame member having gate-pintlereceiving openings and provided with arcuate slots struck from the centers of such openings, pivoted gates having end pintles extending through the pintle-receiving opening, each of the upper pintles having a noncircular end portion projecting above the frame, a rocker-arm having a socket for the reception of said non-circular end and provided with a laterally-extended flange, a bolt extending through the arcuate slot adjacent to the pintle-receiving opening, and securing the flange to the gate at a point some distance from the pintle, and a cam-disk for operating said rocker-arm, said disk being provided with grooves for operating the pivoted gates in successive diametrically-opposed pairs, substantially as specified.

3. In a turbine water-wheel, a wheel or runner having a plurality of buckets, each provided on its impact-face With a rib, the highest end of said rib being adjacent to the outer edge of the bucket, whereby the entering stream of water will exercise a lifting tendency on the runner.

4. In a turbine water-wheel, a runner having a plurality of buckets, each provided with sigmoidal ribs on that side exposed to the action of the water, the highest ends of the ribs being adjacent to the outer edge of the bucket, the lower faces of said ribs being arranged substantially at a right angle to the face of said bucket, and the upper faces of the ribs being rounded.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES LEE SHELTON.

Witnesses:

THos. S. MAoLrN, W. B. Lrenrroor. 

